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Preview  Advance Wars
- By Michael Loewer
Hopefully, even if you weren’t born (or old enough to care) when the movie "War Games" was released in 1983, you’ve seen it by now. It’s a cult classic, and also the perfect introduction to our preview for the upcoming Advance Wars by Intelligent Systems, for the Game Boy Advance.
Computer: “Would you like to play a game?”
Me: “How about, Global Thermonuclear War?”
Computer: “Wouldn’t you prefer a nice game of chess?”
Me: “No! Death to my enemies! I will rule with an iron fist! Nuke them all NOW!”
Man, 80s movies rock.
Alright, so I made up that last line of dialogue. The point is, war simulations—global war, not games like StarCraft or WarCraft—can be a whole lot of fun, but here in America we've missed out (unless you’re an importer) on a famously long line of popular Japanese war simulation titles, the Wars series. New Wars games have popped up on nearly every Nintendo system. This includes Famicom Wars, Super Famicom Wars, 64Wars, Game Boy Wars, and now Advance Wars.
Apparently, though, Nintendo seems to believe that we here in America only enjoy “true” war games, which apparently means no "anime or cartoony” war simulations. You see, as important as the battles in Advance Wars are to the characters, they’re being fought for fun. No nations will fall, no riches or power will be gained by the winners—it’s all being done for the sheer enjoyment of blowing the crap out of one another.
The Game Boy Advance has made several graphical improvements to the title, including an actual full game map with traditional looking (as far as RPGs are concerned) figures, cities, hills, etc. However, the map itself is still comprised of block sections, instead of something more complicated like Panzer General’s hexagonal setup. In a way, this is how it should be, since the point of the Wars series was to recreate strategy board games-a la Risk-and basically put them on steroids. In addition to using various weaponry including tanks, planes, helicopters, and heavy artillery; a 4-player Link is also included so you can teach your friends some respect. If we’re lucky, Advance Wars might even connect to an upcoming GameCube Wars—but that’s total speculation.
Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait and see if you’ll be able to grab a copy of Advance Wars without importing it first. Unfortunately, the “cartoony” feel of this title may once again keep it from leaving Japan. Hopefully, though, if enough interest is shown in the title on this side of the Pacific and the gameplay is still as addicting as previous Wars incarnations, perhaps this time Nintendo will make an exception.
Senior Editor Michael Loewer, signing off.
Shameless plug: The Necessity
- 7.8.2001 |
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Obviously, the Title Screen
Decimate the tanks!
Simple map screen
All forces fire at will!
My primary objective... mmmmm.....
What aisle are the nukes on?
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INFO |
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Publisher: Nintendo
Number of Players: 1-4
Rumble Pak: No
Expansion Pak: No
ESRB Rating: E
Release Date:
September 2001
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